1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal. Particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for quickly acquiring a system using location information in a mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when a mobile communication terminal is turned on or disconnects with a base station in a mobile communication system, a Most Recently Used (MRU) list having information of the most recently connected system is searched for acquiring a system.
If the system is not acquired after the MRU list is searched, the mobile communication terminal searches a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) having information of systems being roamed to find the system to be acquired. The PRL includes a system ID (SID), a network ID (NID), a channel, and a Radio Frequency Band, classified by a geographic information index.
In a conventional method, when a system is disconnected, all systems in a PRL are searched in a predetermined order of the PRL until the system is acquired. That is, because the mobile communication terminal searches the PRL in the predetermined PRL order, an unnecessary search of systems that cannot be found at the current location may be performed. Therefore, a problem of slow acquisition of the actual system occurs and, consequently, may be inconvenient for a user. Also, another problem is an increased consumption of battery power due to an unnecessary system search.